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Outrage as House Republicans Advance 'Cruel and Reckless' Medicaid Cuts
"President Trump repeatedly promised Republicans were not going to cut Medicaid, but that was a lie since Republicans just voted for the largest Medicaid cut in history," noted one Democratic lawmaker.
May 14, 2025
A committee in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to advance a bill containing deep cuts to Medicaid and other vital social services while rejecting every single Democratic amendment that would have protected access to healthcare for millions of the most vulnerable Americans.
After a marathon 26-hour session, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 30-24 along party lines for legislation that's part of the GOP budget reconciliation package, or U.S. President Donald Trump's desire for one "big, beautiful bill." The proposal—which is aimed at slashing $880 billion in federal spending—would give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest U.S. households and corporations while eviscerating social programs and cost an estimated $3.8 trillion through 2034.
"House Speaker Mike Johnson said his party wouldn't cut Medicaid. And then they did."
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, as many as 13.7 million Americans would lose healthcare coverage by 2034 if the bill is passed as written. The proposal will now head to the House Budget Committee, which is set to convene Friday. Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Committee continued debating part of the reconciliation package that includes a $290 billion cut in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
"It's outrageous Republicans forced this debate to occur late into the night when most of the country was asleep and couldn't see what they were up to," Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) said Wednesday. "After 26 hours, Republicans failed to justify their draconian Medicaid cuts."
"The truth is Republicans want to rush this legislation through because they know the American people will be outraged by what's in the bill," Pallone added. "President Trump repeatedly promised Republicans were not going to cut Medicaid, but that was a lie since Republicans just voted for the largest Medicaid cut in history."
Ranking Member Pallone on the 26+ hour fight through the night to protect Americans against Republicans’ draconian health care cuts:
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— Energy and Commerce Democrats ( @energycommerce.bsky.social) May 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) noted that during the 26-hour session, House Republicans "rejected every single Democratic amendment... that would have protected Americans' healthcare, lowered out-of-pocket costs for working families, kept pollution out of our children's schools, and so much more."
"Instead, every Republican member of this committee voted to preserve a cruel and reckless bill that will rip health coverage away from millions of Americans," she added.
Activists and advocacy groups also decried Wednesday's vote, which came a day after more than two dozen demonstrators were arrested at the U.S. Capitol while protesting the bill.
"This partisan bill is nothing more than an attack on the healthcare system on which we all rely, to fund tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations," Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, said in a statement.
"Many Republicans on that committee said they wouldn't touch Medicaid and that the word Medicaid was not even in the bill," Wright added. "We can see that these were just empty promises, but we hope that other Republicans in the House and Senate come to their senses soon. The bill just doesn't cut Medicaid, it guts Medicaid."
This is who Trump and Republicans are targeting with their proposed Medicaid cuts.
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— CAP Action (@americanprogressaction.org) May 14, 2025 at 2:40 PM
People's Action Institute executive director Sulma Arias also issued a statement that began: "Promises made; promises broken. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said his party wouldn't cut Medicaid. And then they did."
"For months, Trump and House Republicans tried to hide the fact that they planned to cut Medicaid," Arias continued. "We warned the public that they were lying, and after this week's votes in committee, there can be no doubt."
"Medicaid is a lifeline for millions; when politicians take it away, they kill people," Arias added. "Through this budget, the billionaires and the bullies plan to do exactly that so they can steal these funds for themselves."
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Key Republican's $500 Billion 'Red Line' for Medicaid Cuts Slammed as Cruel Farce
"If your 'red line' is taking away healthcare from millions of people, then you don't have a red line."
Apr 30, 2025
A key House Republican said Tuesday that he would be unwilling to accept more than $500 billion in Medicaid cuts in the GOP's emerging reconciliation package, a "red line" that drew swift mockery and condemnation from healthcare campaigners.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is seen as a critical swing vote in the narrowly controlled Republican House, toldPolitico that his ceiling for Medicaid cuts over the next decade is a half-trillion dollars—a message he has privately delivered to President Donald Trump's White House.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, said in a statement Tuesday that a $500 billion cut to Medicaid "is not at all moderate, but massive—the biggest cut in the history of Medicaid, one that would force millions of Americans to lose coverage."
"Slashing Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars would force states like Nebraska to make the unholy choice to drop people from coverage, cut benefits, and/or cut payments to the providers we all rely on, or otherwise raise taxes," said Wright. "Medicaid cuts would be another wrecking ball to the health system and to the economy."
The Century Foundation has estimated that cutting federal Medicaid funding by $500 billion over a 10-year period would strip health coverage from more than 18 million children and more than 2 million adults with disabilities.
"If your 'red line' is taking away healthcare from millions of people, then you don't have a red line," said Kobie Christian, a spokesperson for the advocacy coalition Unrig Our Economy.
"Not one dollar should be cut from Medicaid to pay for one dollar of tax breaks for the rich."
Bacon also made clear Tuesday that he would support draconian changes to Medicaid that have been tried with disastrous results at the state level.
"They should be seeking the skill sets for better jobs," Bacon said in support of adding work requirements to Medicaid, despite an abundance of evidence showing that such mandates succeed only at booting people from the program, not increasing employment. (Most Medicaid recipients who are able to work already do.)
Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, said in a statement that "as the GOP drafts their devastating budget, one thing remains true: Republicans in Congress want to make the largest Medicaid cuts in history to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans."
"Whether it's a trillion dollars, half a trillion, or hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts, no member of Congress can justify ripping healthcare away from some of the most vulnerable Americans to give tax breaks to the wealthy," said Woodhouse. "Not one dollar should be cut from Medicaid to pay for one dollar of tax breaks for the rich."
The "moderate" $500 billion Medicaid cut being pitched here would finance a $500 billion tax cut for millionaire business owners and the heirs of estates worth over $28 million per couple. There is nothing moderate about cutting low-income Americans' health care to pay for tax cuts for the rich.
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— Brendan Duke (@brendanvduke.bsky.social) April 29, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Congressional Republicans have previously backed budget plans that would allow $880 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, as well as massive reductions in spending on federal nutrition assistance.
But the GOP push for Medicaid cuts to pay for another round of tax breaks that would largely benefit the wealthy has sparked outrage nationwide, and it appears some Republicans are feeling the pressure from constituents.
Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), whose district has the highest percentage of Medicaid recipients in the House GOP conference, raised concerns about deep Medicaid cuts in an interview with Politico on Tuesday.
But like Bacon, Valadao said he was open to proposals that experts say would bring disastrous consequences for Medicaid recipients. Politico noted that the California Republican "is leaving the door open to capping the overall funding for certain beneficiaries in the 41 states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act."
Edwin Park, a research professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy's Center for Children and Families, warned earlier this week that the per-capita funding cap Republicans are considering should "be viewed as just another proposal to sharply shift expansion costs to states by lowering the effective expansion matching rates, with the intent of undermining and eventually repealing the Medicaid expansion."
"That, in turn, would take away coverage from nearly 21 million low-income parents, people with disabilities, near-elderly adults, and others," Park wrote. "It would also have significant adverse effects on the children of expansion adults: Research shows that the Medicaid expansion increases enrollment among eligible children and therefore reduces the number of uninsured children."
"And, of course, it would also deter the 10 remaining non-expansion states from taking up the expansion in the future," he added.
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As House GOP Reelects Johnson as Speaker, Coalition Says Hands Off Medicaid
Hundreds of advocacy organizations warned lawmakers that "enacting Medicaid cuts would betray your constituents of all political affiliations who are seeking more economic security, not less."
Jan 03, 2025
As Rep. Mike Johnson won reelection as House speaker on Friday, a broad coalition of more than 300 advocacy organizations warned the incoming Republican-controlled Congress against cutting Medicaid amid reports that the GOP is eyeing work requirements and other damaging changes to the program that provides healthcare coverage to around 80 million Americans.
In a letter to the congressional leaders of both parties, Families USA, the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, Doctors for America, the NAACP, and other national and state-level organizations wrote that "cutting Medicaid was not a budget solution that American families asked for" during the 2024 election cycle.
"Doing so now would betray your constituents of all political affiliations who are seeking more economic security, not less," the groups continued. "Cutting Medicaid would shift costs and administrative burdens onto working-class families, states, and health systems. Proposals to cap funding, reduce the federal share of Medicaid spending, establish block grants, institute work reporting and community engagement requirements, cut state revenue from provider taxes, or otherwise undermine the fundamental structure of the Medicaid program all have the same effect."
"If instituted," they added, "Americans will lose access to lifesaving services, states will be strapped with massive budget holes, hospitals and clinics will lose revenues and be forced to cut staff and scale back services, and American families and workers will be unable to afford essential care and get sicker—leading to a loss in productivity and the economy suffering as a result."
"The American people are watching... and we urge you to take this opportunity to choose a different path: one that secures our country's health and economy."
The letter was sent as House members gathered on the floor of the chamber and voted to keep Johnson (R-La.) as speaker in the new Congress.
Once members are sworn in, Republicans are expected to pursue a massive tax-cut package that they will seek to fund by slashing key social programs, including Medicaid.
GOP lawmakers have discussed imposing work requirements on Medicaid recipients as part of a broader effort to offset the enormous costs of another round of tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and large corporations.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Medicaid work requirements, which typically entail difficult-to-navigate bureaucratic procedures, would cause roughly 600,000 people to lose insurance.
Shortly after the November election, The New York Timesreported that "some Republican legislators are interested in even more sweeping changes, such as turning Medicaid into a block grant program, which would keep federal costs fixed even if more people sign up for coverage."
Edwin Park, a research Professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy's Center for Children and Families, warned in a November blog post that turning Medicaid into a block grant program would be "deeply harmful."
"To compensate for the severe federal funding cuts resulting from block grants," Park wrote, "states will either have to dramatically raise taxes and drastically cut other parts of their budget including K-12 education or, as is far more likely, institute deep, damaging cuts to Medicaid eligibility, benefits, and provider and plan payment rates."
"That includes not just dropping the Medicaid expansion, which covers nearly 20 million newly eligible parents and other adults, but gutting the rest of state Medicaid programs that serve tens of millions of low-income children, parents, people with disabilities, and seniors," Park continued.
In their letter on Friday, the advocacy coalition reminded congressional leaders that "millions upon millions of Americans rose up" in opposition to the GOP's failed attempt to cut Medicaid in 2017.
"The American people are watching once again," the groups wrote, "and we urge you to take this opportunity to choose a different path: one that secures our country's health and economy."
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